neowin New frontend nginx servers online

[Steven P. Administrators]

Early this morning the new frontend servers were brought online. We replaced all three Apache servers with new hardware using nginx, as well as the latest PHP :)

 

I'm also pleased to announce that we have also purchased a SSL certificate that will allow https logins here on Neowin (not completed yet).

 

This means that all of the upgrades are nearing completion

 

Done so far:

• New db server, and SSD's in production 
• Three new nginx servers, replacing the three Apache servers

To do:

• Two SATA harddrives need installing in the db server
• HTTPS logins (certificate already purchased)

Enjoy :)

[Marshall Veteran]

Awesome! Things seem to be spinning like a top. 

[Roger H. Veteran]

Is that's why the Spy isn't working? Keep getting Nginx gateway timeout errors?

[Steven P. Administrators]

Yep, I see quoting doesn't work either. Alerted devs to it.

 

Edit nm I couldn't quote Shottas post for some reason, I can quote others though :s

[neohelp]

Just to be curious, why the switch between Apache to nginx?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I should really learn to check the announcements before sounding off in the staff chat. :pinch:

Great news about the servers. I know it's a long shot, but is there any kind of timeframe for when we're 100% online again?

[Dick Montage]

HTTPS logins

 

+1 Likes for you :)

[TheGhostWalker]

Just to be curious, why the switch between Apache to nginx?

 

One of the advantages is that nginx uses much less resources on the server than Apache.

And the other reason is that they probably let Apache handle the php-side, and Nginx the static content side. (Images/JS/css)

[DaveLegg Developer]

Just to be curious, why the switch between Apache to nginx?

nginx is lighter than Apache, so will stand up to heavy traffic better. From testing, it's also quicker to connect and respond to requests. We're actually not using Apache behind nginx for handing the php, php requests get passed straight to php-fpm from nginx.

 

Once everything is finished, I'll probably write up a post about our new architecture. We have a few new toys on the backend that will make life easier for us moving forward.

[Roger H. Veteran]

Did a full CTRL+F5 and quotes work now, wasn't working before that :p

 

Spy still offline for now though :no:

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Excellent upgrade, now onward to the new theme we keep hearing nothing about.

[SuperKid]

nginx is lighter than Apache, so will stand up to heavy traffic better. From testing, it's also quicker to connect and respond to requests. We're actually not using Apache behind nginx for handing the php, php requests get passed straight to php-fpm from nginx.

 

Once everything is finished, I'll probably write up a post about our new architecture. We have a few new toys on the backend that will make life easier for us moving forward.

 

When I mentioned nginx on this site a while ago you guys were like nah Apache is fine. You can really tell you're using nginx now I mean look how fast the pages are loading now its a massive difference!

[Steven P. Administrators]

I agree the page load speeds are impressive! There's a lot of other things that contribute to that as well though, not just nginx :P